List of openly LGBT heads of government

This is a list of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans (LGBT) people who have been the head of government of a country or a subnational division, such as a state, a province or a territory. To date, there have been five openly LGBT people who have served as a national head of government, holding office in Iceland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland and Serbia.

National

Denotes incumbent head of government

Name	Country	Office	Political Party	Mandate start	Mandate end	Term length	Sexual orientation / Gender identity
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir[1]	Iceland	Prime Minister of Iceland	Social Democratic Alliance	1 February 2009	23 May 2013	4 years, 111 days	Lesbian
Elio Di Rupo[2]	Belgium	Prime Minister of Belgium	Socialist Party	6 December 2011	11 October 2014	2 years, 309 days	Gay
Xavier Bettel[3]	Luxembourg	Prime Minister of Luxembourg	Democratic Party	4 December 2013	Incumbent	7 years, 48 days	Gay
Leo Varadkar[4]	Ireland	Taoiseach (Prime Minister)	Fine Gael	14 June 2017	27 June 2020	3 years, 13 days	Gay
Ana Brnabić[5]	Serbia	Prime Minister of Serbia	Serbian Progressive Party	29 June 2017	Incumbent	3 years, 206 days	Lesbian

Sub-national

Denotes incumbent head of sub-national government

Name	Entity	Office	Mandate start	Mandate end	Term length	Sexual orientation / Gender identity
Don Dunstan	South Australia Australia	Premier of South Australia	1 June 1967 2 June 1970	17 April 1968 15 February 1979	321 days, 8 years, 258 days	Bisexual
Jerónimo Saavedra[lower-alpha 1]	Canary Islands Spain	President of the Canary Islands	29 November 1982 11 July 1991	4 July 1987 2 April 1993	4 years, 217 days 1 year, 265 days	Gay
Elio Di Rupo	Wallonia Belgium	Minister-President of Wallonia	15 July 1999	4 April 2000	264 days	Gay
Jan Franssen	South Holland Netherlands	King's Commissioner of South Holland	3 May 2000	1 January 2014	13 years, 243 days	Gay
Klaus Wowereit	Berlin Germany	Governing Mayor of Berlin	16 June 2001	11 December 2014	13 years, 178 days	Gay
Ole von Beust	Hamburg Germany	First Mayor of Hamburg	31 October 2001	25 August 2010	8 years, 283 days	Gay
Jim McGreevey	New Jersey United States	Governor of New Jersey	15 January 2002	15 November 2004	2 years, 305 days	Gay
Nichi Vendola	Apulia Italy	President of Apulia	4 April 2005	1 June 2015	10 years, 58 days	Gay
Clemens Cornielje	Gelderland Netherlands	King's Commissioner of Gelderland	31 August 2005	6 February 2019	13 years, 159 days	Gay
Elio Di Rupo	Wallonia Belgium	Minister-President of Wallonia	6 October 2005	20 July 2007	1 year, 287 days	Gay
Lynne Brown	Western Cape South Africa	Premier of the Western Cape	25 July 2008	6 May 2009	315 days	Lesbian
Allan Bell	Isle of Man United Kingdom	Chief Minister of the Isle of Man	11 October 2011	4 October 2016	4 years, 359 days	Gay
Rosario Crocetta	Sicily _Italy	President of Sicily	10 November 2012	18 November 2017	5 years, 8 days	Gay
Kathleen Wynne	Ontario _Canada	Premier of Ontario	11 February 2013	7 June 2018	5 years, 116 days	Lesbian
Andrew Barr	Australian Capital Territory Australia	Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory	11 December 2014	Incumbent	6 years, 41 days	Gay
Kate Brown	Oregon United States	Governor of Oregon	18 February 2015	Incumbent	5 years, 338 days	Bisexual
Wade MacLauchlan	Prince Edward Island Canada	Premier of Prince Edward Island	23 February 2015	9 May 2019	4 years, 75 days	Gay
Niluka Ekanayake	Central Province Sri Lanka	Governor of the Central Province	17 March 2016	11 April 2018	2 years, 25 days	Transgender woman
Arno Brok	Friesland Netherlands	King's Commissioner of Friesland	1 March 2017	Incumbent	3 years, 326 days	Gay
Niluka Ekanayake	Sabaragamuwa Province Sri Lanka	Governor of Sabaragamuwa Province	12 April 2018	31 December 2018	263 days	Transgender woman
Jared Polis	Colorado United States	Governor of Colorado	8 January 2019	Incumbent	2 years, 13 days	Gay
Elio Di Rupo	Wallonia Belgium	Minister-President of Wallonia	13 September 2019	Incumbent	1 year, 130 days	Gay
Gustavo Melella	Tierra del Fuego Argentina	Governor of Tierra del Fuego	17 December 2019	Incumbent	1 year, 35 days	Gay
Claudia López Hernández	Bogotá Colombia	Mayor of Bogotá	1 January 2020	Incumbent	1 year, 20 days	Lesbian

Publicly came out after retirement, although while being a senator.

Others

Politicians who were closeted while in office and never officially came out or were outed only after their deaths or retirement include:

William II of the Netherlands: King of the Netherlands between 1840–1849, headed a government between 1848 and 1849 after the constitutional reform of 1848. The records and books indicate that he was either gay or bisexual, and that he had been blackmailed because of it.[6][7]
Richard Hatfield: Premier of the province of New Brunswick between 1970–1987. He never officially came out as such during his lifetime, and his sexual orientation only began to be discussed on the record in media and biographical sources after his death.[8][9][10][11][12]
Canaan Banana: President of Zimbabwe between 1980–1987. Despite his denial, was found to be either gay or bisexual in 1997. After a highly publicized trial, he was convicted in 1998 of 11 sodomy and "unnatural acts", for which he was imprisoned for six months.[13][14][15][16][17]

References

Gunnarsson, Valur (30 January 2009). "Iceland to elect world's first openly gay PM". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
Vander Taelen, Luckas (10 December 2011). "Can Belgium's new prime minister keep living the dream?". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
Gayle, Damien (15 May 2015). "Luxembourg's prime minister first EU leader to marry same-sex partner". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
Dunne, Seán (2 June 2017). "Varadkar set to be 'first openly gay Irish PM', say world headlines". The Irish Times. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
"Srbija ima novu vladu. Ana Brnabić postala premijerka. (Serbia has a new government. Ana Brnabić becomes prime minister". Dirketno.hr. 29 June 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
"Koning Willem II gechanteerd wegens homoseksualiteit".
Hermans, Dorine and Hooghiemstra, Daniela: Voor de troon wordt men niet ongestrafd geboren, ooggetuigen van de koningen van Nederland 1830–1890, ISBN 978-90-351-3114-9, 2007.
Warren Kinsella, "Not everyone loves a parade". Toronto Sun, June 26, 2011.
"Definitely out now". Perceptions, September 14, 1994.
Richard Starr, Richard Hatfield: The Seventeen Year Saga. Goodread Biography, 1988. ISBN 0887801536.
Politician Pays Price For Life On The Edge, Chicago Tribune
"Gay politicians come out of the closet and into the cabinet". The Globe and Mail, November 13, 2009.
Mark Steyn (17 November 2003). "Zimbabwe's Banana left legacy of disgrace". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2016.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
Essays in Honor of Bernth Lindfors, Volume 2, Barbara Harlow, Africa World Press, 2002, page 210
Zim's presidential rape scandal, Mail and Guardian, 28 February 1997
Taylor, Rebecca. 'They say that power corrupts – and it does'. The Guardian. 23 January 2002.
McNeil Jr, Donald G. (27 November 1998). "Zimbabwe's Ex-President Convicted of Sodomy". The New York Times (Archives). Retrieved 8 July 2007.

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[Jerónimo_Saavedra-6] Publicly came out after retirement, although while being a senator.

[1] Gunnarsson, Valur (30 January 2009). "Iceland to elect world's first openly gay PM". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 June 2017.

[2] Vander Taelen, Luckas (10 December 2011). "Can Belgium's new prime minister keep living the dream?". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 June 2017.

[3] Gayle, Damien (15 May 2015). "Luxembourg's prime minister first EU leader to marry same-sex partner". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 June 2017.

[4] Dunne, Seán (2 June 2017). "Varadkar set to be 'first openly gay Irish PM', say world headlines". The Irish Times. Retrieved 3 June 2017.

[5] "Srbija ima novu vladu. Ana Brnabić postala premijerka. (Serbia has a new government. Ana Brnabić becomes prime minister". Dirketno.hr. 29 June 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.

[7] "Koning Willem II gechanteerd wegens homoseksualiteit".

[8] Hermans, Dorine and Hooghiemstra, Daniela: Voor de troon wordt men niet ongestrafd geboren, ooggetuigen van de koningen van Nederland 1830–1890, ISBN 978-90-351-3114-9, 2007.

[kinsella-9] Warren Kinsella, "Not everyone loves a parade". Toronto Sun, June 26, 2011.

[perceptions-10] "Definitely out now". Perceptions, September 14, 1994.

[11] Richard Starr, Richard Hatfield: The Seventeen Year Saga. Goodread Biography, 1988. ISBN 0887801536.

[Tribune-12] Politician Pays Price For Life On The Edge, Chicago Tribune

[globe-13] "Gay politicians come out of the closet and into the cabinet". The Globe and Mail, November 13, 2009.

[:3-14] Mark Steyn (17 November 2003). "Zimbabwe's Banana left legacy of disgrace". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2016.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

[15] Essays in Honor of Bernth Lindfors, Volume 2, Barbara Harlow, Africa World Press, 2002, page 210

[16] Zim's presidential rape scandal, Mail and Guardian, 28 February 1997

[17] Taylor, Rebecca. 'They say that power corrupts – and it does'. The Guardian. 23 January 2002.

[18] McNeil Jr, Donald G. (27 November 1998). "Zimbabwe's Ex-President Convicted of Sodomy". The New York Times (Archives). Retrieved 8 July 2007.

List of openly LGBT heads of government

National

Sub-national

Others

See also

References